A Lesson Before Dying in Crazy Challenge Connection

Oct 17, 2008 Book Concierge rated it it was amazing

Shelves: book-club, own, racism, movie, literary-fiction, southern-lit, concierge, strong-women, library, social-commentary

What an extraordinarily moving book. I read it in one day, and sobbed for the last 30 pages. Grant Wiggins learns much from Jefferson, when he is supposed to be teaching him. They both learn something about what it means to "be a man."

I rank this book among the best I have ever read. It will become a classic of American literature. In my opinion, this is the current generation's To Kill a Mockingbird - a modern-day classic. Our book club could not stop talking about it.

I first read it in M ...more

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Mar 13, 2015 Rusty rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classic

This is an emotionally draining read. I found myself in the mind of the teacher, Grant Wiggins, throughout the book. He is struggling with his own role in a racially driven community when he is drawn into conflict with his aunt and a convicted man who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Jefferson accepted a ride with two men who attempt to rob and then kill a white man. They are are killed, too, leaving him standing over the three dead men. He grabs money from the till, a bottle of booze a ...more

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Feb 04, 2020 Kim rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: school, 5-star, favorites, read-again, southern-us, religion-featured, historical-fiction, race, la, wfauthor

A Lesson Before Dying is a very powerful, moving book, and one of a handful of books I could/will read over and over again. It's a book that will take a while to process, and deserves a second or third rereading.
I first became aware of Ernest J. Gaines as the SUNY Brockport digital repository manager. For more than 50 years, Brockport has invited great authors and poets to come speak, including Ernest Gaines, on 27 Feb 1969. These interviews were video recorded, and I had the privilege to digit ...more

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